BRUUUCE

I'll just say it: I love Bruce Springsteen.

Anyone who has known me for more than 15 minutes likely knows this about me. Last night, I saw Springsteen in Richmond and it was completely amazing. He was in fine form - cracking jokes, telling stories, having fun.

One of my favorite songs from his new Devils and Dust album is "Jesus Was an Only Son." Bruce's music has always been infused with Catholic imagery - he was raised Catholic and talks quite a bit about that on this tour. As he said last night, "Catholicism is full of beauty, poetry, and hideous terror to frighten a 6-year-old boy."

In the middle of "Jesus was an Only Son," Bruce stops to talk about what he was imagining when he wrote it. He talks about his own transforming experience as a parent, and says that to his mother, Jesus was just her son. He also talks about sacrifice in a very powerful way. I'll paraphrase his riff on this...

"The thing that makes our choices powerful is the things we give up by not choosing the other way. I figure at some point Jesus had to be thinking to himself, it's beautiful here in Galilee this time of year. And there's that little bar down by the beach, and they could use a good manager. And Mary Magdalene could tend bar. I could just save the preaching for the weekends. And we could have a bunch of kids and watch the sun shine on their faces. And watch their lungs fill with air as they sleep at night. And watch them play on the beach tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that..."

I've been all over the map theologically and I'm still sorting out what I really think about Jesus, but I love this imagery. People rarely talk about Jesus as just a man, somebody's son, who had a whole life ahead of him. And I love the way he talks about the details of parenting that bring so much joy - just watching his child breathe at night.

This is the thing that Bruce does so well over and over again - and the reason I think I identify with his music so profoundly. He focuses on relationships and connection and the "ties that bind." He doesn't talk about the religious significance of Jesus' crucifixion. He talks about his relationships (or potential relationships) and the life he's giving up. Again and again, Bruce reminds me that connections, friendships, love, relationships are the most important things in life. It's the loss of those things that makes Jesus' sacrifice so profound.